Bengaluru stampede: 4 held after suo motu FIR, senior police officers suspended as blame game continues

The Print

a day ago

On Thursday, the police had filed a suo motu FIR accusing the RCB franchise, DNA Entertainment and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) administrative committee for going ahead with the celebrations, despite not being given the requisite permissions.
Among the four held is Royal Challengers Bengaluru marketing head Nikhil Sosale. The others arrested are Kiran Kumar, Senior Event Manager at DNA Entertainment Networks; Sunil Mathew, Vice-President of business affairs; and another employee, Sumanth.
Bengaluru: Two days after 11 people were killed and several injured in a stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru Police have arrested four persons, including a top RCB official and three from the event management firm that organised the team's IPL victory celebrations.
Hours later, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the suspension of Bengaluru city police chief B. Dayananda and at least four other senior officers, holding them responsible for the tragedy. The officers were suspended for facilitating a situation that 'went out of control and brought a lot of misery, loss of precious life and embarrassment to the government', among other reasons.
The victims of Wednesday's stampede were all aged under 33, with the youngest being 13 years old.
'The CEO of RCB had intimated Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City on 03/06/2025
about holding the victory parade and celebrations on 4th of June 2025. However, the office of Police Commissioner failed to give written reply to the organisers, rejecting the permission on the grounds of lack of time to prepare for such a huge event,' read the suspension order released to media persons late Thursday evening.
The suspended officers include commissioner Dayananda, Additional Commissioner of Police (West) Vikash Kumar Vikash, Shekar H. Tekkannavar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), and Additional Commissioner (Cubbon Park) C.Balakrishna. Cubbon Park inspector A.K. Girish, who had filed the suo motu FIR, was also suspended by the chief minister.
Seemanth Kumar Singh was named the new city police commissioner soon after, as decided in a cabinet meeting. Siddaramaiah was flanked by Home Minister G. Parameshwara, and Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru in-charge D.K. Shivakumar, as the announcement was made. The blame was laid on the police, organisers and the venue operators, with the government taking no responsibility.
Also Read: 'My brother was crazy about cricket, it took his life': Chinnaswamy stampede leaves families devastated
What the FIR said
According to the complaint filed by Girish, KSCA chief executive officer Shubendu Ghosh had approached the Cubbon Park Police Station Tuesday evening around 6 pm, seeking permission for a victory parade and other celebrations for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
The team won its maiden IPL trophy later that night and fans poured out on the streets in several localities in celebration, which lasted till the early hours of Wednesday. The police were skeptical as they expected hundreds of thousands of people to descend around the stadium, the FIR said. The police were aware of the challenges in providing security and managing crowds since it was not a scheduled match, and denied permission on the same grounds, including that it would disrupt traffic in the central business district on a weekday, it added.
But RCB, DNA Entertainment and KSCA insisted on holding the celebrations on 4 June, the FIR further said, and despite being denied permission, the organisers posted on RCB's X handle at around 7 am about the entire day's events, including the celebrations. This information was then shared widely on social media and also by news outlets.
A meeting of senior officers was then held to discuss provision of security and other arrangements to manage the crowd. The police had also brought in additional force, according to the FIR.
RCB's post had said that the team would land at 1.30 pm Wednesday at HAL Airport, and then make their way to Hotel Taj West End to rest up. At 4 pm, they were supposed to be felicitated by the chief minister, deputy chief minister and others on the steps of the Vidhana Soudha, which was to be followed by a victory parade in an open-top bus from the Vidhana Soudha to Chinnaswamy stadium, a distance of about 1 km.
But the police denied permission for a parade, and the organisers then announced that the celebrations would be held at Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The complaint further said that adequate arrangements had been made, but lakhs of fans turned up near the stadium, which has a capacity of 35,000.
'KSCA management committee and RCB franchise officials failed to decide on how to grant fans entry into the stadium. Consequently, thousands of fans gathered on the roads outside the stadium. Around 3.10 pm, the gates at the locations with the largest crowds were opened to let people inside. This led to a severe stampede at the gates, resulting in stampede and commotion,' it read.
It added that the police, private and VVIP security personnel then tried to control the crowd and rescue those trapped in the stampede, managing to avert a larger tragedy.
RCB, DNA and KSCA have been booked under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 118 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by using dangerous weapons or means), 121 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 190 (liability of members of an unlawful assembly for offences committed in pursuit of a common object), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging their duty), and 125 (12) (acts endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
'Want justice, not scapegoats'
The Siddaramaiah government Thursday formed a one-man judicial commission to probe the stampede. Former Karnataka High Court judge Michael D' Cunha will look into the alleged lapses to figure out who was responsible for the mishap. The report will be submitted within a month.
The government has so far deflected all questions on the role of political leadership in the tragedy. Police officers that ThePrint spoke to said that it was on the insistence of political leaders that the celebrations took place.
Meanwhile, opposition parties have questioned Siddaramaiah over 'making scapegoats' out of the suspended police officers.
'CM @siddaramaiah avare, People of Karnataka are demanding justice, not scapegoats,' R. Ashoka, leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka assembly, wrote in a post.
CM @siddaramaiah avare,
People of Karnataka are demanding justice, not scapegoats.
ಮಾನ್ಯ ಸಿಎಂ ಸಿದ್ದರಾಮಯ್ಯನವರೇ,
ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಜನತೆ ನ್ಯಾಯ ಕೇಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ, ಹರಕೆಯ ಕುರಿಗಳನ್ನಲ್ಲ. https://t.co/B9tSRQKXmF
— R. Ashoka (@RAshokaBJP) June 5, 2025
The state BJP president, B.Y. Vijayendra also posted: 'CM Siddaramaiah and his government, instead of taking accountability for the entire tragedy, are now attempting to deflect blame and make scapegoats out of the already overburdened police personnel—despite the fact that these officials had initially denied permission and were eventually overruled by political directives…'
CM Siddaramaiah and his government, instead of taking accountability for the entire tragedy, are now attempting to deflect blame and make scapegoats out of the already overburdened police personnel – despite the fact that these officials had initially denied permission and were… pic.twitter.com/6vYzMPMCsW
— Vijayendra Yediyurappa (@BYVijayendra) June 5, 2025
The BJP has accused the government of not heeding to the advice of the police to not hold such celebrations, and then suspending the latter itself.
'How unfair is it to first ignore the well-reasoned advice of the police department, and now unjustly pinning the blame squarely on them? CM Siddaramaiah, DCM DK Shivakumar, and Home Minister @DrParameshwara bear complete responsibility for this tragic episode. They must own up their failure and resign from their positions in the larger interest of the state and its people,' Vijayenendra added.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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